Goodbye to All That

Goodbye to All That is the autobiography of Robert Graves, one of the 20th centuries many eccentric poets. The fact that Robert is going to become a famous poet isn't a very large theme in the book. Instead, the book (as its title would suggest) focuses on Robert's realization that Englishsociety was something he didn't wish to partcipate in.

In the second half of the book Robert discusses his life as an infantry soldier in the trenches of World War I. He talks about some rather horrific experiences in a rather measured way. Although at least half of the book is filled with scenes from the war, the book does not carry not the feelings of a war memoir. It is, instead, one man's subjective view of what is going on.

The conclusion to the book is young Robert looking at the combination of the hypocrisy of England, and the horror of the army, and deciding that he never wants to live amongst the English again, and deciding to move to Majorca, in the Mediteranean Ocean (This is where the book gets its title from). Besides a short stay during World Way II, Robert would never return to England again.